Bracket for miners  lamps



(No Model.)

J. R. WATTS.- BRAGKBT FOR MI'NERS LAMPS.

No. 493,137. Patented Mar. 7, 1893.

INVENTO/i w/rlvisses;

4M5 BY W A TTORNEYS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFioE.

JULIUS R. WATTS, OF SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS.

BRACKET FOR MINERS LAMPS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 493,137, dated MarchY, 1893. Application filed August 2, 1892. Serial No. 441,936. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JULIUS R. WATTS, of Springfield, in the county of Sangamon and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Brackets for Miners Lamps, of which the following is a full,clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to an improvement in brackets for miners lamps, and has for its object to provide a bracket, which may be expeditiously, conveniently and securely attached to any article of head wear, whether it be an article especially adapted for miners use, or an old cast-off hat or cap yet capable of being Worn, thereby'enabling a miner to use articles of head wear not especially made for mining purposes, and to wear a lamp upon such articles with as much safety and convenience as upon caps or hats especially made to carry lamps.

. The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures and letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the lamp and a vertical section taken through the improved bracket, the lamp being shown as supported by the bracket, and the section of the bracket being taken practically on the line 11 of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the bracket; and Fig. 3 is a plan view thereof.

It is one of the objects of the present invention to construct a bracket in an exceedingly simple and economical manner in order that it will receive any form of miners lamp, and which will not require any tact or experience to apply it to a cap or hat. To that end the bracket consists of a back plate A, which may be of anyapproved shape. Ordinarily it is of somewhat rectangular shape, except at the upper edge, which is somewhat curved, as indicated in Fig. 2. Fastening devices are attached to this plate, and the said fastening devices consist ordinarily and preferably of a head section 10 and shank sections 1], as each head is made of two shank sections capable of being folded parallel and close together or carried in opposite directions from each other, the shanks'being made of a pliable material,such as brass or tin, and the ends of the shanks are pointed, as indicated at 12 in Fig. 1.

The heads 10 of the fastening devices may be flat or they may be in socket form; preferably three fastening devices are employed, two at the top one near each side of the plate, and one at the bottom near the center, in which event the heads of the two upper fastening devices are made in socket shape, or somewhat in the shape of an eye, as shown at 13in Fig. 3. This socket form of the head is provided in order that the upper end of a rest or guide frame B, may be secured within the sockets. This rest or guide frame usually consists of a single piece of wire bent upon itself somewhat to a yoke form; the extremities of the wire are bent downward upon themselves forming pins 14, and these pins are made to enter the socket heads 10 of the upper fastening devices. The members of the yoke where they connect with the pin-like extensions thereof, are curved downward and outward to a point at or near their centers, so that the upper portions 15 of the members stand at a decided inclination to the front surface of the plate A, and this inclination of the upper portions of the members is stopped at a point near or below the center of the members, and at this point, which is indicated by the letter a in the drawings, the members of the yoke are carried downward and inward in the direction of the plate at a more or less acute angle to the upper portion, the lower portions of the members being designated by the reference numeral 16, and the bow portion 17 of the yoke, which is the bottom portion thereof, is curved laterally outward, as is best shown in Fig. 2; the lower or bow portion of the yoke is removed some distance from the front face of the plate A.

At the upper central portion of the plate A, upon its front face, a socket or keeper 18, is permanently located. This socket or keeper is preferably made somewhat in the shape of the inverted frustum of a cone, and is open at both ends, while in the front central portion of its upper edge a downwardly-extending recess 19, is produced. This bracket may be attached to any article of head wear by simply forcing the shanks 11 of the fastening devices through the material of which the head wear is made inward from the front and bending the members of the shanks in opposite directions downward to an engagement with the inner surface of the hat or cap.

In operation, the hook O of the miners lamp is placed in the socket or keeper 18 the free end of the hook passes downward through the lower end of the socket or keeper as shown in Fig. 1, while the bow portion enters the recess 19 of the socket of the keeper, and serves to hold the hook steadily in the position in which it is placed, while the upper flaring mouth of the socket enables the miner, without removing the hat or cap, to readily and conveniently place the lamp in proper position in the bracket if for any reason it has been removed therefrom, and the peculiar curve of the members of the yoke portion of the bracket serves to hold the lamp at a proper inclination and some distance away from the plate, as the advanced points a of the bracket members engage with the body of the lamp near its center and slightly near the back, while the bottom of the lamp may rest upon, and in that case is supported by the outwardly-stepped bow section of the yoke.

The simplicity, durability and practicability of this bracket is obvious, and it is also apparent that it may be applied and the lamp may be used in connection with it, by any person capable of doing the work of a miner.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. A bracket for miners lamps, comprising a back plate, a socket 18 on the upper portion thereof and the supporting yoke B secured at its upper ends at opposite sides of the socket, projecting downwardly and outwardly therefrom to the point a to embrace the sides of a lamp and thence downwardly and inwardly to the cross piece 17, which cross piece forms the support for the inner portion of the lamp bottom, substantially as set forth.

2. A lamp bracket, comprising a back plate A provided with socket 18 having a slot 19 fastenings extending through the plate at op posite sides of the socket and provided with sockets on their outer ends and shank sections 11 to pass through the hat, a lower fastening also extending through the plate, the supporting yoke B having hooked upper ends engaging the sockets 10 and side arms 15 projecting downwardly and outwardly therefrom to the point a and then downwardly and inwardly as at 16 to the cross bar 17, substantially as set forth.

JULIUS R. WATTS. Witnesses: 1 WILLIAM J. AURELIUS,

GEORGE J. BARRETT. 

